Notable Cases & Case Updates
GSA Settles Class Action Lawsuit Against New York City for Visitor Searches at Jails
On December 17th, 2016 GSA and Beranbaum Menken LLP filed a class-action lawsuit against the City of New York and its Department of Correction for illegally strip and/or body cavity searching visitors to City jails. Randomly strip searching visitors to City jails is illegal and a violation of the DOC’s directives. The lawsuit alleges that the City is systematically performing strip searches without individualized reasonable suspicion that the visitor is concealing contraband.
On October 30, 2019, Plaintiffs’ Preliminary Approval of the Class Action Settlement was approved by the Court. If you visited (or attempted to visit) an inmate who was housed at a New York City Department of Corrections facility between November 23rd, 2012 and October 30th, 2019, and were subject to an invasive search by a DOC employee please contact our firm. A Class Notice will be sent out on December 5th, 2019 to people who we suspect could have been victim to an invasive search. The last day to submit a claim for this case is April 27th, 2020. Please return to this website in the next couple of weeks to access the settlement’s notice and the claims website.
The case is Grottano et al. v. City of New York, et al., 15 Civ. 9224, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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